Post boxes were painted gold today to honour Greater Manchester's Olympic cycling stars Philip Hindes and Jason Kenny. The Team GB riders struck gold – and set a new world record – alongside veteran gold medallist Sir Chris Hoy in last night's thrilling team sprint final at the London 2012 Velodrome.

The Team GB riders struck gold – and set a new world record – alongside veteran gold medallist Sir Chris Hoy in last night's thrilling team sprint final at the London 2012 Velodrome.

The trio all train at Manchester's velodrome near the City of Manchester Stadium.

German-born Hindes, 19, who led the team around the first lap, lives in Manchester and Kenny, 24, who took the second leg, was born in Farnworth, near Bolton.

To mark their achievement, post boxes were turned to gold by the Royal Mail in Lloyd Street, Manchester, and in Churchgate, Bolton.

The Royal Mail will be painting a red post box gold in the hometown of every Team GB gold medallist competing in the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Red has been the standard colour for UK boxes from 1874, with few exceptions.

And to celebrate the stunning cycling win, special gold medal stamps printed last night are due to go on sale tomorrow in more than 500 Post Offices, including in Manchester and Bolton.

The stamps all feature an action image of Hindes, Kenny and Hoy on their way to gold.

They will go on sale at a further 4,700 branches within a week.

A Royal Mail spokesman said: “This is a unique, highly visible and fitting way to recognise the successes of Team GB during the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Royal Mail’s post boxes are a much-loved part of the UK landscape.”

The gold post boxes will remain in use and customers will be able to post mail as normal. Mail collections will also be unaffected.